Despite a relatively rocky start to the 2024-25 Premier League season, former longtime Tottenham player Ledley King still believes Ange Postecoglou is the “right man” to lead the club forward.
Tottenham entered the international break in ninth place after losing three of their last five games, a disappointing beginning to a campaign that follows the club’s fifth-place finish in Postecoglou’s first year as manager in North London.
Yet King is not panicking yet as he sees positivity in the way Postecoglou has set the team up to play, telling Seaman Says, brought to you by Betway, that the Aussie manager’s style should eventually lead to improved results.
“I think it’s been a breath of fresh air in terms of just going out there trying to win games,” King said. “I’ve always felt with Tottenham that we’ve always had good enough players to win any game of football. It’s obviously not always happened, but there’s not been one game where I didn’t believe we were going to win because we have players that are capable of doing that.
“I think that’s where Ange is at – if we play our game and we play it well, we can win the game, and that’s his thought. Playing well and trying to be entertaining while you’re doing it. It’s just his style. People will probably read too much into it in terms of how you’re best going to win games. There are going to be ups and downs because of the style that he wants to play.”
For King, Postecoglou has earned the right to struggle through some unwanted results based on how the club fared last season. It takes time to build a winning culture, and King believes Postecoglou has Spurs on the right track.
“Ange needs time,” he said. “Last season, finishing fifth was good for me. You lose Harry Kane [to Bayern Munich] before the start of the season, a new manager comes in and we still got fifth position. Now, we want to see a progression on that, obviously, but I believe in him. If you give him time, I believe that he’s the right man.
“We’re in every competition still, so there’s a chance [of winning something]. I’ve always believed that our best chance of winning anything is by being ourselves and just playing, players expressing themselves, going for it. I look back to the team when I won the League Cup in 2008, and it was a team that played against a very good Chelsea side on the day, but we just played our game. That’s always going to be the best chance for me, rather than thinking too much. Being free to play, I think, is Tottenham’s best way of actually getting over the line and winning the trophy.”